02072020-TT-01.qxd 7/1/2020 11:20 PM Page 1 13 chandigarh | gurugram | jalandhar | bathinda | jammu | srinagar | vol.140 no.182 | 12 pages | ~4.50 | regd.no.chd/0006/2018-2020 established in 1881  haryana ATWAL SET TO RETURN TO THE GREEN SPORTS /thetribunechd PHARMA FIRMS IN FIX AS CALL TO BOYCOTT CHINA GOODS GETS LOUDER BUSINESS PRIYANKA TOLD TO VACATE BUNGALOW BACK PAGE /thetribunechd www.tribuneindia.com Civil services: Change of exam centre allowed NEW DELHI: Candidates taking the Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination-2020 have been allowed to change their centres, an order issued by the Union Public Service Commission said. The examination is slated for October 4. The commission has also allowed candidates to change centres for the Civil Services (Main) Examination and Indian Forest Service (main) Examination. — TNS Hry colleges, varsities to stay shut till July 31 CHANDIGARH: The Haryana Government has ordered that colleges and universities in the state would remain closed till July 31. It also announced summer vacation in all government and private schools from July 1 to July 26 for the teaching and administrative staff who had been attending schools although no regular classes were being held. TNS 6-month extension for Dy EC Sudeep Jain NEW DELHI: The tenure of Deputy Election Commissioner Sudeep Jain has been extended by six months till mid-December this year, according to a Personnel Ministry order issued on Wednesday. Jain, a 1994-batch IAS officer of the Telangana cadre, is looking after works related to EVMs in the poll body, officials said. PTI China to be kept off road projects New Delhi, July 1 India will not allow Chinese companies to participate in highway projects, including those through joint ventures, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said on Wednesday amid the border standoff with China. The Road Transport and Highways Minister also said the government would ensure that Chinese investors were not entertained in various sectors like the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). Rlys scraps tender for thermal cameras “We will not give permission to joint ventures that have Chinese partners for road construction. We have taken a firm stand that if they (Chinese companies) come via a joint venture in our country, we will not allow it,” said Gadkari. The minister said a policy would be out soon banning Chinese firms and relaxing norms for Indian companies to expand their eligibility criteria for participation in highway projects. With respect to existing tenders and future bids, Gadkari said rebidding would be done if there were any Chinese joint ventures. — PTI thursday, july 2,2020 Talk of phased pullback for 3rd time Sticking pointChina adamant on denying India patrolling rights in Pangong Tso area Ajay Banerjee RAJNATH, NARAVANE TO VISIT LADAKH TOMORROW Tribune News Service NO JOINT VENTURES, TOO ❝ We will not give permission to joint ventures that have Chinese partners for road construction. Nitin Gadkari, UNION MINISTER NO CHINESE GOODS IN FOOD MINISTRY: PASWAN Union Minister for Food and Public Distribution Ram Vilas Paswan has said that his ministry has closed the door to Chinese products. IANS PLEA IN SC: GOVT MUST REVEAL TRADE POLICIES A plea has been filed in the Supreme Court by a Jammubased lawyer seeking a direction to the Centre to make public its trade policies with China. PTI MODI QUITS WEIBO PM Modi has quit Chinese social media platform Weibo. The BJP said the PM has sent out a “strong message” at the border, on the economic front and now at “personal level too”. PTI New Delhi, July 1 India and China have yet again “agreed” to go in for a phased step-wise de-escalation, including pulling back fully armed troops and war-like equipment, from the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh. This is the third such attempt at “de-escalation”. Earlier two attempts to deescalate did not work out, rather fresh military deployment was carried out by either side by adding troops and equipment like tanks, guns, radars, UAVs and fighter jets. Sources in New Delhi said the meeting of the Lt Gener- New Delhi: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh is scheduled to visit Ladakh on Friday to take stock of India’s military preparedness, sources said. To be accompanied by Chief of Army Staff Gen MM Naravane, it will be the defence minister’s first visit to Ladakh after the A CHINOOK FLIES OVER LEH VALLEY AMID TENSION WITH CHINA. recent standoff. PTI al-level commanders at Chushul on Tuesday had ended late at night. “Both sides emphasised the need for an expeditious, phased and step-wise de-escalation as a priority,” the source said. More meetings are expected both at the military and at the diplomatic level in future to arrive at mutually agreeable solution and to ensure peace and tranquillity along the LAC as per bilateral agreements and protocols, authorities in New Delhi said. A source explained the need for “more meetings”, saying SFJ’s Pannu among 9 declared terrorists Mukesh Ranjan THOSE ON LIST Tribune News Service New Delhi, July 1 India today declared nine individuals, including Gurpatwant Singh Pannu, a USbased key member of banned outfit Sikhs for Justice, as terrorists under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. The Sikhs for Justice is the brain behind the “Khalistan 2020 referendum”. Pannu has been seen actively running a campaign against India and GURPATWANT SINGH PANNU motivating Sikh youth from Punjab to join militancy. Among others designated terrorists by the Ministry of Home Affairs are Paramjit Singh of Babbar Khalsa Wadhawa Singh Babbar, Lakhbir Singh, Ranjeet Singh, Paramjit Singh, Bhupinder Singh Bhinda, Gurmeet Singh Bagga, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, Paramjit Singh and Gurpatwant Singh Pannu. International, Hardeep Singh Nijjar of Khalistan Tiger Force and Gurmit Singh Bagga of Khalistan Zindabad Force. Following an amendment in the UAPA, the government had first designated four individuals as terrorists: Maulana Masood Azhar, Hafiz Saeed, Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi and Dawood Ibrahim. With today’s listing, the total number of people declared individual terrorists is 13. “These individuals are involved in various acts of terrorism from foreign soil. They have been trying to revive militancy in Punjab,” the MHA said in a statement. Ramp up testing, deploy Punjab to move HC 3-yr-old wails on grandpa’s body, mobile vans, states told on school fee order rescued by forces; 2 killed in J&K New Delhi, July 1 As India saw a record 507 Covid-19 deaths over 24 hours, the Centre today asked states to ramp up testing in campaign mode, hold camps and use mobile vans to collect samples of symptomatic people from high incidence areas and check them with an antigen test. “The positive individuals should be treated as per Covid treatment regime and the negative individuals should be tested with RT-PCR,” Health Secretary Preeti Sudan and Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) chief Balram Bhargava wrote in a joint letter to state chief secretaries. Noting that “test-tracttreat” is a key strategy for ear- COVID-19CASES INDIA COUNT RECOVERED 3,47,978 FRESH FATALITIES 507 TOTAL DEATHS 17,400 5,85,493 TOTAL RECOVERED DEATHS WORLD 1,06,30,286 58,33,700 5,14,979 ly detection and treatment, the Centre said states must augment their capacity to collect and test samples from symptomatic persons as recommended by the ICMR. The Centre also asked states to allow all doctors, including private ones, to recommend the Covid-19 test. — TNS Chandigarh, July 1 Punjab Education Minister Vijay Inder Singla today said the state government will file a letter patent appeal (LPA) in the Punjab and Haryana High Court against a Single Bench order allowing private schools to collect fee for the lockdown/curfew period. Addressing a press conference, Singla said Covid-19 had adversely impacted the occupation and livelihood of people, and the government would urge the Double Bench to reconsider the decision. “We are filing the LPA in the Will urge court to revisit Single Bench directive interest of all parties involved in the case, including parents, teachers, staff, school administrators,” he said. “The court has not given any observation on whether the education department can take measures as it may deem reasonable in the overall interest of the school education.” The government will seek a clarification on the issue, said Singla. — TNS Srinagar, July 1 The Valley was today witness to poignant images of a threeyear-old boy sitting on the blood-splattered body of his grandfather, killed in a militant attack in Sopore this morning. CRPF Head Constable Deep Chand Verma and 65-year-old civilian Bashir Ahmed Khan were killed and three security men injured in the attack. IGP (Kashmir) Vijay Kumar said two militants opened fire at a joint checkpoint of the police and CRPF from a mosque, killing the two. The boy was later rescued by the police, he said. Bangla Sahib disinfected REGION COMBATS VIRUS 5 DEATHS IN PUNJAB 527RECOVERINADAYINHRY Chandigarh: Punjab witnessed 101 fresh Covid-19 cases and five deaths on Wednesday. With this, the state caseload has reached 5,668, including 150 deaths. TNS Chandigarh: With four deaths and 393 fresh cases, Haryana’s Covid tally reached 14,941. Meanwhile, 527 people recovered in the last 24 hours, taking the number to 10,499. The deaths were reported from Faridabad-3 and Gurugam-1. TNS COVID-19COUNT REGION STATE Chandigarh Punjab Haryana Himachal Pradesh J&K Ladakh Delhi +VE DEATHS 446 06 5,668 150 14,941 240 979 08 7,695 105 990 01 87,360 2,742 26 FRESH CASES IN HP Chandigarh: With 26 new cases on Wednesday, the tally in Himachal reached 979, including eight deaths. The total number of active cases stands at 341, while those who have recovered from the infection is 617. TNS A self-disinfecting coat being sprayed on various surfaces at Gurdwara Bangla Sahib as a preventive measure against Covid-19 spread, in New Delhi on Wednesday. TRIBUNE PHOTO: MUKESH AGGARWAL A cop carries a 3-year-old boy after being rescued in Sopore. TWITTER The social media was flooded with images of the child wailing while sitting on his grandfa- ther’s body, evoking sharp reaction. The police later tweeted a photo of a policeman carrying the child to safety. Khan’s son Suhail Ahmed, however, claimed: “We got a call from the police and when we reached the scene, we were told my father had died in crossfire... It looks like he was taken out of his car and shot.” The IGP termed the allegations “baseless”. “He (Khan) was driving a car with a kid on board. As the firing started, he panicked and tried to flee along with the kid but was hit by a bullet and he died,” said the IGP. — TNS China is adamant on denying Indian troops patrolling rights east of ‘Finger 4’ in the north of Pangong Tso. Similar issues persist at a few other spots. The Area east of ‘Finger 4’ is also claimed by India and its troops regularly patrolled the area. Earlier two similar attempts to resolve the standoff after the June 6 and June 22 meetings had come a cropper. On the night intervening June 15 and June 16, troops of both sides were involved in a deadly clash. After the June 22 meeting, there was a decision to maintain a physical distance of at least 3 km between troops, but that was disregarded. continued on back page Nod to Patanjali’s Coronil, not as drug for Covid Tribune News Service New Delhi, July 1 The government today said the Patanjali Trust could market its new tablet “Coronil” as an immunity booster, but not as a Covid therapy. In a letter to the Uttarakhand Licensing Authority and the Patanjali Trust, the Ministry of Ayush said it examined the matter and found that Coronil had been registered with the state licensing authority as an immunity booster, while the two other formulations in the so-called Covid package were earlier registered as Ayurvedic drugs for “kasa and svasa”. It said, “The proposed three drugs — Divya Coronil tablet, Divya Shwashari Vati 540mg and Divya Shwashari Vati 350 mg — should be marketed as per the scope of the licence issued by the Uttarakhand Licensing Authority, Ayurvedic and Unani Services. On the package and the label of these drugs, no claim about cure of Covid-19 should be mentioned.” The ministry, however, said Patanjali had initiated clinical trials for potential Covid19 therapy as per government guidelines and the trust could continue with those trials as per procedure. HSSC ex-chairman, members booked in recruitment scam Chandigarh, July 1 The State Vigilance Bureau in Haryana has registered a case against former chairman, members and officials of the Haryana Staff Selection Commission (HSSC) for fraudulent recruitment of 1,983 physical training instructors (PTIs) during the BS Hoodaled Congress regime. The Supreme Court had on April 8 upheld an order of the Punjab and Haryana High Court striking down the HSSC recruitments. The HSSC had invited applications for 1,983 posts of the instructors in 2006 and had BIAS ALLEGED IN SELECTION OF PTIS ■ The selection procedure to recruit 1,983 physical training instructors was held without the written test in 2008. ■The HSSC chairman and members allegedly resorted to favouritism while giving marks in interview. appointed them in 2010. As per the notification, candidates equal to three times the number of vacancies were to be called for the interview based on their performance in the written test. However, later a notice was issued by the commission that due to several complaints of cheating, the written exam would be cancelled. Another notice was issued re-notifying the written examination. However, before the fresh written exam could take place on July 20, 2008, a third notice was issued by the commission cancelling the test. Then the selection panel decided to shortlist the candidates for the interview based on the academic qualification and employed 1,983 candidates, leading to the litigation. — TNS